March held over Hong Kong ban

Hundreds of people marched through Hong Kong yesterday to urge authorities to overturn a court ruling that bars thousands of mainland Chinese from moving to Hong Kong to live with their immigrant parents.

A Hong Kong court decision in 1999 limited residency rights for the relatives of mainland Chinese in Hong Kong. Only children born after their parents have become Hong Kong residents can settle there too.

About 8,000 offspring remain in China without their parents due to the ruling, according to a Hong Kong activist and Roman Catholic priest, the Rev Franco Mella.

Fr Mella said about 1,000 protesters had walked from the territory's government headquarters to the Chinese government's liaison office, demanding that the law be overturned. A police spokesman said an estimated 650 people joined the march.

The immigrants' children would not pose a burden to Hong Kong and represented a supply of new workers, insisted Fr Mella.